Can not believe the attitude of some people! Our beautiful staffy boy is just 8 months old and today whilst my husband and 5 year old daughter were taking him for a walk he ran up to another dog which was smaller than him. The owner responded to my husbands apology by swearing and threatening to "do him over" and accusing our boy of biting his dog!! Yes our boy does bound up to other dogs but he is just so excited and wants to play. It's him that gets bit more often than not as he gets a bit too much for other dogs. I know we will have to get used to this attitude towards our boy but is it really necessary to swear and threaten someone just for having a staffy?? We are trying to train him to come back to us with the recall method I think the vet called it where we throw a ball in the back garden but call him back before he has picked it up and reward him for listening and coming back but he is so young he is obviously still learning! Sorry to rant just needed some staffy loving like minded people who understand! xxx

Last edited by MrsE86 on Mon Apr 27 2015, 19:06; edited 1 time in total

Hello! Oh dear. There's no need for rude and threatening behaviour at all, especially if it is just because he's a staffie, though bare in mind that some people don't like dogs running up to them/their dogs for a multitude of reasons - I have a staffie who IS aggressive and the bane of our life is people letting dogs run up to us without asking permission, I do then tend to give the owners of said dog a mouthful too! His dog may have been old, unwell or just not friendly with other dogs - no reason to be abusive though I agree.

Yes, recall is what you should be aiming for. What about using a long line until he's better trained? You can get them from eBay for about £8 and they're up to 60ft long, so you can attach it to his harness and let it trail whilst he's playing but still have full control in case he does decide to bolt it up to a dog/person. I use the command "come" when teaching recall, but some people use a whistle. I reward with high value treats, especially when calling away from a big distraction. You can practise this around the house and in the garden, and build up to bigger distractions. But the long line will be your safety net.

Hi Rachel thank you ever so much for your advice! Apparently my husband has met this man and his dog before and was fine when our pup went to say hello but I do agree that our pup does need to relax with the running up to other dogs and people! He has ran over to older Staffys before and got a good telling off from the dog! I will definitely look at getting the long lead thank you! He seems to see another dog and that's it he doesn't see or hear anything else he just goes so maybe it's our fault too for knowing he bolts but still letting him off the lead? He just loves a good run around and I feel mean keeping him on the lead. I just wanna do what's best by our pup but being very inexperienced I don't always know if I'm doing the best. Thanks again for all your advice I really appreciate it xxx

Cooper is 8 months too he is the same runs up to other dogs to play and people are wary because of the breed it's so frustrating I started to hide from him while out walking he soon comes back now if he looses sight of me

Rachel33 wrote:Hello! Oh dear. There's no need for rude and threatening behaviour at all, especially if it is just because he's a staffie, though bare in mind that some people don't like dogs running up to them/their dogs for a multitude of reasons - I have a staffie who IS aggressive and the bane of our life is people letting dogs run up to us without asking permission, I do then tend to give the owners of said dog a mouthful too! His dog may have been old, unwell or just not friendly with other dogs - no reason to be abusive though I agree.

Yes, recall is what you should be aiming for. What about using a long line until he's better trained? You can get them from eBay for about £8 and they're up to 60ft long, so you can attach it to his harness and let it trail whilst he's playing but still have full control in case he does decide to bolt it up to a dog/person. I use the command "come" when teaching recall, but some people use a whistle. I reward with high value treats, especially when calling away from a big distraction. You can practise this around the house and in the garden, and build up to bigger distractions. But the long line will be your safety net.

Yup, recall is the best way to tackle this and you're thinking along the right lines with the ball in the garden. Great advice above but if food isn't a motivator (some aren't !!) then use a favourite toy to distract or wave as an exciting distraction, I know some use a tennis ball but these don't seem to last very long